Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Memelas are Oaxaca's flat, oval, open-faced tortilla-plus-topping — thinner than a sope, larger than a tlacoyo, softer than a tostada. A masa disc is pressed slightly oval, cooked on a comal until barely set, then brushed with asiento (the dark unrefined lard from the bottom of a carnitas cauldron), spread with a smear of refried black beans, topped with a scatter of quesillo cheese and a spoon of salsa, and finished briefly on the comal so the cheese melts and the beans warm through. Sold from stone-oven street stalls all across the city of Oaxaca, especially in the mornings — you eat memelas at 8am with a coffee, standing at the counter, and buy two more for the walk home.
Method
Whisk masa harina and salt. Add water and melted lard. Knead 2 minutes to a smooth soft dough. Cover and rest 15 minutes.
Warm 3 tbsp lard in a pan. Cook onion 5 minutes; add garlic, avocado leaves, salt. Add beans and 150ml water. Mash to a smooth-thick paste. Cook 8 minutes to darken. Keep warm.
Char the tomatillos (or tomatoes), chillies, garlic and onion on a dry pan 6 minutes. Blend with coriander, salt and lime to a coarse-smooth sauce.
Divide the dough into 12 balls. Press each into an oval 12cm long, 8cm wide, 5mm thick.
Heat a dry heavy comal over medium-high heat. Cook each memela 90 seconds on the first side, 90 seconds on the second — the outside should be set and pale, not fully coloured. Slide onto a plate.
Working with warm memelas: brush the top side generously with asiento. Spread 1 tbsp of refried beans over the asiento. Scatter with quesillo strings and a spoon of salsa.
Return each topped memela to the hot comal for another 2 to 3 minutes, topping-side up, until the cheese has melted and the base has crisped further.
Slide each hot memela onto a plate. Top with a few coriander leaves and slices of radish. Serve immediately with lime wedges. Two or three per person is a good portion.
Tips
- Asiento is the flavour marker. If you can find it, the dish tastes distinctly Oaxacan. If you can't, use the strained lard from making carnitas (the dark stuff with brown bits at the bottom of the pot), or in a pinch use bacon fat mixed with lard. Skip it entirely and you've lost 30% of the flavour.
- Oval shape, not round. A round memela is a sope. The oval press is the marker.
- Two-stage cook. The set-first, top-second, finish-third technique is what gives memelas their crisp base and melty top. Skip the finish stage and the cheese doesn't melt.
- Quesillo pulls into strings. Oaxacan string cheese is made by kneading and pulling until it forms long strands. Pull it into 5cm strings before topping — mozzarella works too but tastes slightly different.
- Chiles de agua are the Oaxacan classic. This regional pale-green chile is hard to find outside Oaxaca; serranos are the practical substitute.
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